I’m Sam, the oldest of the Levines.  I was born in Madison, WI, which
explains my natural affinity for the midwest; I went to a Cubs game at
Wrigley Field before I was even born. I spent the last three years
after graduating running around New York City (literally: I’m always
late and always training for something) and dining beyond my means. In
May, I decided to quit my job and follow my boyfriend to South
Florida.  I resigned myself to a life of dog-walking, after-school
tutoring and food service, until I only made it to the second of a
rigorous three-round interview process to hostess at BB King’s Blues
Club, and more importantly, got a job at a lovely museum in Delray
Beach.  I find that South Florida living suits my proclivity towards
senior citizen stand-bys, some of which include book clubs, public
radio, knitting, painstaking grocery lists, and going to bed early.
I knew I could call myself a year-rounder when I recently described
someone as a “snowbird” in complete seriousness.

About running: I’d say it all began when a chubbier, freshman me
heaved through a two-and-a-half mile run by the lake one brisk Chicago
evening.  On the phone with my mom later that night, I told her I
planned to run a marathon.  I don’t blame her if she thought this
dream would go the way (nowhere) of many of my lofty, if not deluded,
ambitions–become an Olympic figure skater, go to Columbia, own a
summer home in Paris, and host a talk-show.  In fact, I only learned I
even dreamt of the Paris summer home and talk-show nonsense in the
“About the Author” section of a heretofore unpublished illustrated
short story I wrote in second grade.  It was called “A Passover
Seder,” and was, obviously, my musings on identity, tradition, and
family in contemporary Jewish-American society.

Anyway, I told my mom I planned to run a marathon.  And really, the
rest is history: I ran my first marathon on an unseasonably steamy
October day in Minneapolis, my second in Barcelona, and my third and
most-loved last year in New York.  I’m doing that one again this year,
just a month after Chicago.  I am positively giddy about crossing the
finish line with my sister, as Todd better have finished long before. See you there!